When I was at a firm, my clients included a number of restaurants ranging from the high-end to the decidedly low-end (i.e., fast food), including a number of ma

When I was at a firm, my clients included a number of restaurants ranging from the high-end to the decidedly low-end (i.e., fast food), including a number of major restaurant chains HQ'd in the SoCal area. I can guarantee that I know more about restaurant finances than anyone on this thread other than an actual restaurant owner, because for years it was my job to know this stuff. But anyways: the number one operational cost that kills restaurants is leasing costs, not supplies or employee wages, because those latter costs can be managed based on the amount of business, time of year, etc. And the truth about "high quality" versus "low quality" ingredients is that at the restaurant scale, the price difference isn't that large; excepting meat, it can be as low as 10% (and in some cases, at least in SoCal it can be cheaper to buy organic produce than nonorganic). I' still close friends with a number of food purchasers and suppliers in the SoCal area, and you would be absolutely shocked at how little restaurants have to pay for their produce and fish. Consequently, their isn't much of an incentive for a restaurant to use the lowest-quality ingredients because their isn't a significant cost savings but there is a huge risk associated with using lower-quality ingredients. (However, the calculus is different for food manufacturers, who sell their products at wholesale prices and so have significantly smaller potential margins.)